[Milsurplus] Black paint/white paint

[Paul Kraemer]

Goes along with what I have seen on contracts of that type. Full disclosure, 
no proprietary items. Carried over to large industrial contracts too.
Munincipalities would be wise to take a lesson from that. Too many times I 
see them get stuck with a bunch of proprietary items where the originator 
won't even release service information.  Then us poor folk in the trenches 
10 years down the road are stuck with trying to fix it with no supporting 
information.  Unfortunately the originator is long gone or bankrupt and the 
customer just keeps paying through the nose. Ever wonder why your city is 
always out of money? Politics, that is why.
Paul K0UYA
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nick England" <navy.radio at gmail.com>
To: <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Black paint/white paint


That was the deal on military procurements - the original supplier was
required to provide complete documentation so that subsequent
contractors could make clones. I have come across some interesting
lawsuit docs on-line from when the 2nd contractor could only make out
about 75% of the govt-furnished microfilmed drawings from the original
contractor.

p.s. never saw any "white" scopes while I was working at US Naval
Elecronics Systems test & Evaluation Facility...but it was fun
watching gray scopes get tested on the "lightweight" shock test
machine (5' drop of a 400 lb hammer).

At least they didn't have to undergo the "heavyweight" shock test
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5792069545817995838#docid=7060797370504105853

cheers,
Nick K4NYW
www.navy-radio.com

On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 8:39 PM, J. Forster <jfor at quikus.com> wrote:
> A friend set up and ran the line for those clones. It was strictly the
> lowest bidder got the job. They were exact copies.
>
> -John
>
> ===============
>
>
>> I remember those clones. They made their way to the US Air Force as
>> well. I was already familiar with the Tektronix models they copied,
>> and figured it was just being sure there were two or more suppliers. I
>> still think the Tektronix had an edge in quality and performance.
>>
>> Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY
>>
>> Ralph Cameron wrote:
>>> Paint reminds me of the U.S. Navy contract to buy Tek scopes painted
>>> white- Tek refused to deviate from their standard blue so the gov't
>>> awarded contracts to Hiicock and Lavoie. Both contractors copied the Tek
>>> scopes including some spare holes that found their way into the chassis.
>>> Tek sued and many years later the gov't paid $7million compensation for
>>> patent infringement. Past history now and I am sure there3 have been
>>> many similar procurement blips.
>>>
>>> Ralph
>>> VE3BBM
>>>
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